Napoleon Bonaparte and The Legacy of the French revolution

Founded on three fundamental principles of equality, fraternity and liberty, the French revolution spanned from 1789-1799. The revolution was a historical world landmark for the massive bloodshed and intensity of the revolution. The country was torn apart by political and religious turmoil which had persisted for over a decade. The revolution began due to the resentment of feudalism, civil inequality and religious intolerance that was present in France. The people of the revolution wanted France to establish a new political and social system where all people could enjoy equality, and pushed for government centralization, abolition of feudalism, religious tolerance and equality in the access to different careers. It was a struggle against inhumanity in a bid to create a favorable atmosphere where all human beings could exercise their rights and freedoms without any obstruction.

Throughout the decade of the revolution, France did not have a centralized government and was stricken by a series of upheavals and instability. It wasn’t until after the revolution that Napoleon discovered the need for a strong centralized state in order to consolidate the revolutionary advances in a bid to build stability. Napoleon wanted to prosper with the benefits of the revolution and steer France to establish a stable foundation to institutionalize the gains of the revolution by enacting proper administrative framework. Napoleon came in as a shrewd administrator who would serve to convert the gains of the revolution and establish a humane French territory where the three principles of the revolution could be observed. I would argue that “Napoleon was a champion of the French revolution and steered the revolution principles to fruition”.(Martyn. L. 1...

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...ith the exception of liberty. Napoleon was an important factor in the revolutionary decade as well as the period immediately after the revolution: he steered France to the fruition of the principles of the revolution. (Jordan. 94).

Works Cited

Martyn. L. (1994), Napoleon Bonaparte and the legacy of the French revolution, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA.

Owen. Connelly. (1999), The French revolution and the Napoleonic era, Harcourt College publishers, Harcourt. pg. 111-112

David. P. Jordan. (2012), Napoleon and the Revolution, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA pg. 92-95

Louis. B. (1981), France under Napoleon, Princeton University Press, USA.

Michael. V. Leggiere. (2007), The fall of Napoleon: The allied invasion of France, 1813-1814, Cambridge university press, New York, USA.

Linda. F. & Marsha. F, (2004), the French revolution, Greenwood Press, New York, USA.